JP7438040B2 - cooked frozen food - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a cooked frozen food that becomes ready to eat when cooked in a microwave oven, and more specifically, a paste seasoning liquid with a low salt content containing ingredients such as meat is placed on top of main ingredients such as noodles. , and relates to a cooked frozen food in which the oil seasoning liquid is disposed directly below the paste seasoning liquid and in the gap between the main ingredients.

Frozen foods have attracted attention in recent years due to their high convenience, as they can be stored for long periods without using preservatives. In particular, there is a growing demand for frozen foods that are made by freezing main ingredients such as noodles and rice with soups, sauces, etc. (hereinafter referred to as ``soup, etc.'') and can be easily made into an edible state by simply cooking in a microwave oven. It has been increasing in recent years.

A problem with such cooked foods is uneven heating during microwave cooking and the associated "burning" of the main ingredients. In extreme cases, even though a portion of the main ingredient has been baked due to overheating, a frozen portion may remain in the center, which has been a long-standing problem in this field.

Methods to eliminate heating spots include (1) attaching or kneading materials that prevent heating spots to the main material such as noodles, and (2) devising the shape of the main material and the placement of the seasoning liquid. A method is being tried.

For example, methods for attaching a material that prevents heating spots to the surface of the main material include dispersing a heat-resistant gel with a melting point of 90°C or higher in food, or attaching an oil-in-water emulsion containing ethanol. A method of mixing gliadin, etc. are disclosed.

As methods for devising the arrangement of seasoning liquid, etc., a method of adjusting the ratio of large ingredients and sauce, a method of dividing the sauce and arranging it, etc. are disclosed.

However, from the viewpoint of achieving a suitable flavor, materials for preventing heating spots are unnecessary, and may cause off-taste in some cases. Furthermore, although it is possible to eliminate heating spots in the sauce by changing the ratio and arrangement of the sauce, there is still a difference in the heating efficiency between the main ingredient and the sauce, so this does not eliminate the heating spots in the food as a whole.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 10-327773 Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 10-056998 Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-020630 Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2011-062116 Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2019-024443

The present invention was made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and aims to suppress heating spots that occur when cooking frozen foods in a microwave oven and the resulting burning of noodles and rice. be.

The present inventors placed a paste seasoning liquid with a low salt content on top of main ingredients such as noodles and rice, and placed an oil seasoning liquid with a high salt content directly below the paste seasoning liquid and in the gap between the main ingredients. We have found that the above problems can be solved by using frozen foods.

By completing the present invention, it is possible to suppress heating spots that occur when cooking frozen foods in a microwave oven and the resulting burning of noodles and cooked rice.

FIG. 1 is a top view and a sectional view of the frozen food according to the present invention.

The present invention is a frozen food for microwave cooking, in which a paste seasoning liquid is placed on top of the main ingredient, and an oil seasoning liquid is placed directly below the paste seasoning liquid and in a gap between the main ingredients. The viscosity at 30℃ is 5 Pa・s or more, the moisture content of the oil seasoning is 1% by weight or less, and the salt content of the oil seasoning is higher than the salt content of the paste seasoning. This invention relates to frozen foods that can be cooked in a microwave oven. This will be explained in detail below.

(Main ingredients)
Main ingredients include rice and noodles containing starch.
Examples of rice include white rice, brown rice, barley, etc. that have been gelatinized by cooking or the like, and specific examples include boiled rice, barley rice, and rice. Fried rice made by frying boiled rice or barley rice also falls under the category of rice in the present invention.

Examples of noodles include raw noodle strings formed by a conventional method, cut into predetermined lengths, and gelatinized by steaming. Specific examples include Chinese noodles, udon, soba, and pasta. Yakisoba, fried udon, etc., which are stir-fried Chinese noodles and udon that have been subjected to gelatinization, also fall under the category of noodles in the present invention.

(paste seasoning liquid)
The paste seasoning liquid in the present invention needs to have a viscosity at 30° C. of 5 Pa·s or more, more preferably 10 Pa·s or more. In the present invention, the paste seasoning is placed on top of the main ingredient to facilitate absorption of microwaves. Furthermore, by arranging the paste seasoning directly above the oil seasoning, microwaves irradiated to the oil seasoning are suppressed. Therefore, in order to prevent the paste seasoning from getting into the gaps between the ingredients, a viscosity of 5 Pa·s or more is required. Note that, according to the JAS standard, the viscosity of a rich sauce (pork cutlet sauce) is stipulated to be 2 Pa·s or more, so the paste seasoning in the present invention needs to have a viscosity that is at least twice the standard for a rich sauce.

Further, the paste seasoning preferably has a viscosity of 200 Pa·s or less at 30°C. If the viscosity of the paste seasoning is too high, it will be difficult to transport by pump, resulting in low productivity. Also, when frozen, the main ingredient and the paste seasoning adhere to each other due to the anchor effect, but if the viscosity of the paste seasoning is too thick, the paste seasoning will not penetrate into the main ingredient, resulting in insufficient adhesion, resulting in breakage due to a small impact. It becomes easier.

As a method for adding viscosity to the paste seasoning, a method of adding a thickener such as starch, gelatin, carrageenan, agar, alginic acid, etc., a method of adding viscosity to the paste seasoning by emulsifying it like mayonnaise, etc. can be selected as appropriate.

Edible salts used in paste seasonings include sodium chloride (salt) or salt substitutes such as potassium chloride and magnesium chloride.

Furthermore, although the details will be described later, the effect of the present invention is significant when the water content of the paste seasoning exceeds 10% by weight.

Paste seasonings may contain umami ingredients such as monosodium glutamate and inosinic acid, sour ingredients such as lactic acid, citric acid, acetic acid, sodium citrate, sodium lactate, and potassium lactate, glucose, fructose, sucrose, trehalose, and galactose. , oligosaccharides, glycerin, xylitol, sweet ingredients such as sorbitol, spices such as nutmeg, turmeric, Japanese pepper, chili pepper, etc. can be added.

(oil seasoning)
The oil seasoning in the present invention includes at least edible oil and fat and edible salt.
There are no particular limitations on the edible fats and oils used in oil seasonings, but rapeseed oil, palm oil, soybean oil, corn oil, rice oil, sesame oil, olive oil, flaxseed oil, peanut oil, beef tallow, pork fat, chicken fat, fish oil, or Examples include fats and oils obtained by chemical or enzymatic treatment, such as tri/diglycerides, hydrogenated oils, transesterified oils, and the like.

The blending amount of the edible fat is preferably 20% by weight or more, more preferably 30% by weight or more based on the total amount of the oil seasoning. Further, it is preferably 99% by weight or less, more preferably 95% by weight or less. If the amount of edible fat added is insufficient, the fluidity of the oil seasoning will be poor and productivity will decrease.

As with paste seasonings, edible salts used in oil seasonings include sodium chloride (salt) or salt substitutes such as potassium chloride and magnesium chloride.

The moisture content of the oil seasoning in the present invention is 1% by weight or less. The details will be described later, but if the moisture content exceeds 1% by weight, it will cause the main ingredients to burn.

Oil seasonings contain umami ingredients such as monosodium glutamate and inosinic acid, sour ingredients such as lactic acid, citric acid, acetic acid, sodium citrate, sodium lactate, and potassium lactate, as well as glucose, fructose, sucrose, trehalose, and galactose. , oligosaccharides, glycerin, xylitol, sweet ingredients such as sorbitol, spices such as nutmeg, turmeric, Japanese pepper, chili pepper, etc. can be added. Moreover, if the viscosity is too low, a thickener such as starch, gelatin, carrageenan, agar, alginic acid, etc. can be added.

(Salinity content)
In the present invention, it is necessary that the salt content of the paste seasoning liquid is lower than the salt content of the oil seasoning liquid. In addition, in the present invention, the proportion of edible salt (solute) dissolved in a seasoning is referred to as "salt concentration", and the proportion of edible salt contained in a seasoning, regardless of whether it is dissolved or not, is referred to as "salt concentration". It is explained separately from "salt content".

Explain about "grilling" of main ingredients.
If the salt concentration of main ingredients (noodles, rice, etc.) is too high, they are not suitable for eating, so they often do not contain salt, or even if they contain salt, it is only about 4% by weight. On the other hand, seasonings used to flavor main ingredients generally have a salt concentration of 4% by weight or more, as they are intended to be mixed in small amounts or diluted compared to the main ingredients. It often exceeds % by weight. In addition, when cooking main ingredients and seasonings with different salt concentrations for a long time, moisture transfer occurs from the medium with low salt concentration (main ingredients) to the medium with high salt concentration (seasonings). It has been known.

On the other hand, the characteristics of microwave cooking are that the food placed on the outside absorbs microwaves and is heated more easily, and the heating efficiency (microwave absorption efficiency) of ice is significantly lower than that of water or oil. This can be mentioned. For this reason, when cooking in a microwave oven, the main ingredients and seasonings placed on the outside melt quickly and continue to be heated for a long time, but the main ingredients placed in the center remain frozen. prone to the condition. Seizing occurs in the main ingredients placed on the outside and kept heated for a long time.

Although the details are not certain, it is assumed that "burn-in" occurs through the following mechanism. In addition, "seizing" in the present invention refers to the occurrence of "hardening of the main ingredients" and/or "binding of the main ingredients" described below.
When the main ingredients and seasonings are thawed and the temperature rises, moisture transfer from the main ingredients to the seasonings occurs due to the difference in salt concentration.
This phenomenon tends to occur in areas where the main ingredients and seasonings are in contact.
Next, if you continue to heat the main ingredients in the area where moisture transfer has occurred in a microwave oven, the temperature will exceed 100℃. This is the same situation as baking the main ingredients in an oven or with superheated steam, which causes the main ingredients to harden.
On the other hand, starch, a type of adhesive, is leaking onto the surface of the main ingredient. Therefore, in the region where the main food material hardens, adjacent main food materials are bound to each other via starch.

Therefore, in the present invention, seasonings are divided into paste seasonings with a low salt content and oil seasonings with a higher salt content than paste seasonings but a lower water content. This prevents "sticking". This will be explained in detail below.

Salt content of paste seasoning The salt content of the paste seasoning is preferably 3% by weight or less, and preferably closer to 0% by weight. In the present invention, since the water content of the oil seasoning is limited to 1% by weight or less, most of the water required for the entire seasoning (paste seasoning and oil seasoning) is supplied from the paste seasoning. In other words, paste seasonings have a higher moisture content compared to oil seasonings. Therefore, when the salt content is high, the salt concentration also increases, causing moisture migration and burning of the main ingredients. Therefore, for paste seasonings, it is necessary to keep the salt content low.

On the other hand, as for oil seasonings, the water content is limited to 1% by weight or less, so edible salt is hardly dissolved. Therefore, even if the salt content of oil seasonings is high, the salt concentration will not rise above a certain level and will have little effect on moisture transfer or burning of the main ingredient.

The salt content of the paste seasoning liquid needs to be lower than the salt content of the oil seasoning liquid. If the salt content of the paste seasoning liquid is the same as the salt content of the oil seasoning liquid, or if the salt content of the paste seasoning liquid is higher than the salt content of the oil seasoning liquid, do not take the trouble to separate the paste seasoning liquid and the oil seasoning liquid. No need to adjust separately.

Further, the salt content of the paste seasoning liquid is preferably lower than the salt content of the oil seasoning liquid by 3% by weight or more, and preferably by 5% by weight or more. If the interval between the salt content of the paste seasoning liquid and the salt content of the oil seasoning liquid is small, the effect of the present invention may not be clearly manifested because the effect of suppressing seizure is small.

(moisture content)
Moisture content of paste seasoning
It is necessary that the moisture content of the paste seasoning is higher than that of the oil seasoning. If the water content of the paste seasoning is lower than the water content of the oil seasoning (1% by weight), the salt concentration of the paste seasoning will not increase as with the oil seasoning, so do not take the trouble to separate the paste seasoning liquid and the oil seasoning liquid. No need to adjust separately. Note that the effects of the present invention are significant when the water content of the paste seasoning exceeds 10% by weight. When the water content of the paste seasoning is slightly higher than the water content of the oil seasoning (for example, about 2% by weight), the edible salt often remains undissolved and the salt concentration is difficult to increase, so the effect of the present invention is reduced. It may not appear clearly.

Water content of oil seasoning The water content of oil seasoning is 1% by weight or less, more preferably 0.5% by weight or less. If the water content exceeds 1% by weight, the edible salt in the oil seasoning will dissolve, increasing the salt concentration and causing the main ingredients to burn.

(Arrangement of paste seasoning and oil seasoning)
It is necessary that the paste seasoning liquid is placed on top of the main food ingredient, and that the oil seasoning liquid is placed directly below the paste seasoning liquid and in the gap between the main food ingredients. In microwave cooking, the heating efficiency (microwave absorption efficiency) of ice is significantly lower than that of water or oil. For this reason, in the present invention, the paste seasoning that contains more ice when frozen is placed on the outer surface side where microwaves are easily absorbed to increase heating efficiency.

On the other hand, oil seasonings have a low moisture content and contain a large amount of edible fats and oils that have good heating efficiency, so even if they are placed in the center where microwaves cannot reach, the heating efficiency does not decrease much. Rather, by placing the oil seasoning in the center, heat is transferred from the oil seasoning, which tends to rise in temperature, to the main ingredients and paste seasoning (heat transfer). Therefore, by arranging the oil seasoning at the center of the frozen food, it is possible to efficiently heat the center of the main ingredient, which is difficult to thaw, and the lower part of the paste seasoning.

In the present invention, in addition to the main ingredients, paste seasonings, and oil seasonings, meat such as chicken, pork, beef, and mutton, vegetables such as green onions, onions, carrots, eggplants, tomatoes, burdock, and bamboo shoots, shiitake mushrooms, and mushrooms are used. , mushrooms such as shimeji mushrooms, potatoes, beans, and other ingredients may be added. In addition, extracts (moisture, fat, flavor components, salt components, etc.) extracted from other ingredients into paste seasonings and oil seasonings are included in the ingredients of each seasoning. For example, when making a paste seasoning with ground pork added, most of the water, fat, and umami components contained in the ground pork flow into the paste seasoning, so only a small portion of the meat is suitable for other ingredients.

(Production method of main ingredients)
Rice
The rice used as the main ingredient can be produced according to conventional methods. Specifically, rice, barley, etc. are cooked by a drying method, a boiling method, a stir-fry boiling method, a steaming method, etc., and are further stir-fried as necessary to produce rice dishes. This rice is packed into molds and moved to the next merging process (combining with seasonings). Note that it is preferable to cool the temperature of the rice to 20 to 40° C. before the merging step. If the seasoning is moved to the next step while still at a high temperature, the viscosity of the seasoning changes greatly due to the heat of the rice, making it difficult to control quality.

Noodles Noodles used as the main ingredient can be produced according to conventional methods. Specific manufacturing examples are listed below.

Wheat flour, starch, buckwheat flour, and other grain flours are added as necessary to form the main raw material flour, and to this, auxiliary raw materials such as salt, kansui, polymerized phosphates, egg whites, gluten, emulsifiers, oils and fats are added as necessary. , Knead well with kneading water. The auxiliary raw material may be added to the main raw material in powder form, or may be added to the kneading water.

After kneading well to create noodle dough, it is formed into noodle strips using a composite noodle rolling machine, etc., which is passed through rolling rolls several times to be rolled out thinly to obtain the final noodle dough thickness, and then cut using a cutting blade roller. -Cut it out with a wheel and make it into noodle strings (raw noodle strings). Note that a method such as extruding the noodle strings using an extruder like spaghetti may also be used.

The raw noodle strings are gelatinized by steaming, cut into single serving pieces, and packed into molds. Note that it is preferable to cool the noodle strings to 20 to 40°C before the next combining step (combining with seasonings). If the seasoning is moved to the next step while still at a high temperature, the viscosity of the seasoning changes greatly due to the heat of the noodle strings, making it difficult to control quality.

(merger process)
Put the oil seasoning into the gap between the main ingredients packed in the mold. If the oil seasoning has a high viscosity and takes time to penetrate into the voids of the main ingredient, the oil seasoning may be heated to lower its viscosity before being added. However, care must be taken to ensure that the quality of the main ingredients does not deteriorate due to the heat of the oil seasoning.

Next, place the paste seasoning on top of the main ingredients and directly above the oil seasoning. After applying the paste seasoning, it is preferable to immediately proceed to the cooling step. If the interval before moving to the cooling step is too long, there is a risk that the paste seasoning and the oil seasoning will mix.

Other ingredients may be mixed with the paste seasoning before being added. However, if the viscosity of the paste seasoning exceeds 200 Pa·s due to the presence of other ingredients, it is necessary to add the other ingredients at a different timing from the paste seasoning.

(cooling process)
Finally, these foods are frozen to produce frozen foods. As for the freezing conditions, it is preferable to rapidly freeze at -35°C or lower. In the case of slow freezing, the seasoning may peel off before freezing, or the paste seasoning and oil seasoning may mix, making it impossible to achieve the objective of the present invention. In addition, when slow freezing is performed, it takes time for the food to pass through the maximum ice crystal formation temperature range (between -1 and -5°C), which destroys the structure of the frozen food and deteriorates its texture.

Examples are shown below.

(noodles)
Mix 950 g of semi-strong flour with 50 g of acetylated tapioca starch, 5 g of egg white powder, and 5 g of gluten, add 15 g of salt, 15 g of kansui preparation (sodium carbonate: 50: potassium carbonate: 45: polymerized phosphate: 5), and add 1 g of gardenia pigment to water. A dough was prepared by adding 340 g of kneading water and kneading the mixture in a vacuum mixer under normal pressure for 4 minutes and then under reduced pressure for 8 minutes.

A noodle sheet was made by compounding the prepared dough, and after rolling the noodle sheet to 1.4 mm by roll rolling, the noodle sheet was cut with a No. 18 square roll cutting blade to make noodle strings, and then about The noodle strings were cut to 30 cm.

130 g of the cut noodle strings were placed in a boiling bucket and boiled in boiling water at 100° C. for 120 seconds. After boiling, the water was drained for 20 seconds, washed with running water to remove heat, and then filled into a cooling tray to a thickness of 20 mm.

(Paste seasoning A)
25 parts of white sugar, 8.3 parts of lard, 3.9 parts of corn starch, 0.3 parts of xanthan gum, and 62.5 parts of water were thoroughly mixed and stirred using a mixer to form a paste with a viscosity of 7 Pa·s at 30°C. Seasoning A was prepared. Note that a B-type viscometer was used to measure the viscosity of all seasonings.

(Paste seasoning B)
9 parts of caster sugar, 3 parts of lard, 5 parts of corn starch, 0.1 part of xanthan gum, and 82.9 parts of water were thoroughly mixed and stirred using a mixer to make paste seasoning B with a viscosity of 20 Pa·s at 30 °C . adjusted.

(Paste seasoning C)
Using a mixer, 2 parts of micronized table salt (described as "salt" in Table 1), 7 parts of white sugar, 3 parts of lard, 5 parts of corn starch, 0.1 part of xanthan gum, and 82.9 parts of water were added. The mixture was thoroughly mixed and stirred to prepare a paste seasoning C having a viscosity of 20 Pa·s at 30°C.

(Paste seasoning D)
8 parts of white sugar, 8 parts of lard, 3.5 parts of corn starch, 40 parts of tomato paste, 33.0 parts of frozen onion dice, and 7.5 parts of water were thoroughly mixed and stirred using a mixer, and the viscosity at 30°C was A paste seasoning D of 20 Pa·s was prepared. In addition, regarding paste seasoning D, since solid matter remained, the viscosity was measured after straining with a 30-mesh wire mesh.

(oil seasoning)
17 parts of atomized common salt, 1 part of chili oil, 17 parts of sesame oil, and 65 parts of lard were thoroughly mixed and stirred using a mixer to prepare an oil seasoning. The water content of the oil seasoning was less than 0.1%.

A mixed seasoning was prepared by mixing 75 parts of paste seasoning A and 25 parts of oil seasoning.

25 parts of the oil seasoning was filled in the center of the noodles in the tray, and then 75 parts of the paste seasoning A was placed directly above the noodles and the oil seasoning. Finally, the tray was quickly frozen to produce frozen food 1 (Example 1).

Frozen foods 2 to 4 (Examples 2 to 4) were produced in the same manner as frozen food 1 except that paste seasoning A was changed to paste seasonings B to D.

The center of the noodles in the tray was filled with 100 parts of the mixed seasoning, and the tray was quickly frozen to produce frozen food 5 (Example 5).

(Setting evaluation)
Sample 1 for evaluation was prepared by thawing frozen food 1 in a microwave oven ("RE-S26A" manufactured by Sharp Corporation, 500 W, 8 minutes), and then washing off the seasoning with hot water at 70°C. Samples 2 to 5 were prepared by thawing frozen foods 2 to 5 in the microwave under similar conditions.

Comparative sample 1 was prepared by putting frozen food 1 into a pot containing hot water (300 ml) and heating it until it boiled to thaw the frozen food 1, and then washing away the seasoning with 70°C hot water. Comparative samples 2 to 5 were prepared by thawing frozen foods 2 to 5 by cooking in a pot under similar conditions.

Samples 1 to 4 were evaluated based on the following criteria. The evaluation results are shown in Table 2.
○: No burning of noodle strings occurred at all.
×: Burning occurred in 10 or more noodle strings.
△: Evaluation between 〇 and ×

Incidentally, no burn-in occurred in any of Comparative Samples 1 to 5 that were thawed by cooking in a pot.

Regarding Sample 1, although it was within a practical range, some burning occurred in the contact area between the paste seasoning and the oil seasoning. This seems to be due to the mixing of the paste seasoning and oil seasoning, partially forming a seasoning with a high salt concentration. In addition, regarding Sample 3, some burning occurred in the contact area between the paste seasoning and the main ingredient. This is probably because the paste seasoning contains salt.

1 Paste seasoning 2 Noodle blocks 3 Oil seasoning

Claims (3)

A frozen food for microwave cooking in which a paste seasoning liquid is placed on top of the main ingredients, and an oil seasoning liquid is placed directly below the paste seasoning liquid and in the gap between the main ingredients, and the viscosity of the paste seasoning liquid at 30°C is 5Pa・s or more,
The salt content of the paste seasoning liquid is 3% by weight or less,
The moisture content of the oil seasoning is 1% by weight or less,
and the salt content of the oil seasoning liquid is higher than the salt content of the paste seasoning liquid,
A frozen food that can be cooked in a microwave oven. 2. The frozen food for microwave cooking according to claim 1 , wherein the salt content of the oil seasoning liquid is 5% by weight or more higher than the salt content of the paste seasoning liquid. The frozen food for microwave cooking according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the paste seasoning liquid has a water content of 10% by weight or more.

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